Scott Verplank justified U.S. Ryder Cup captain Curtis Strange's decision to choose him as a wild card selection by winning the $3.8 million Bell Canadian Open at the Royal Montreal Golf Club.

Verplank, 37, won his fourth PGA Tour event by shooting a final-round 67 for a 14-under 266 total that was three shots better than Bob Estes and Joey Sindelar.

Verplank earned $684,000 for the win.

John Daly, who won last week's European PGA Tour BMW International Open, finished fourth at 10-under-par, while Spainiard Sergio Garcia, Australian Paul Gow and Canadian David Moreland each finished at nine-under-par.

Strange's choice of Verplank as a Ryder Cup wild card pick raised eyebrows last month mainly because Verplank had no previous Ryder Cup experience.

Verplank, who set the Royal Montreal 54-hole record of 11-under-par on Saturday, never lost control of the lead in the final round.

Gow and Daly each shared the lead with Verplank, but each faded on the back nine.

Estes began the final round two shots back of Verplank and cut that in half with a birdie on the second hole.

Estes, though, parred the next seven holes while Verplank moved to 13-under on the front nine.

When Estes made a birdie putt on the par-5 13th to close within a shot again, Verplank answered with a birdie of his own at the 13th, then extended his lead to three strokes with a 20-foot birdie putt at the 15th.

The last bit of excitement came when Verplank made double-bogey at the 16th hole, allowing Estes to close within one stroke for the last time.

Estes made bogey on the 18th and moved in to a two-way tie with Sindelar for second.

Estes shot a final-round two-under-par 68. Verplank birdied the par-three 17th to put an exclamation point on his victory.

Sindelar began the final round five shots, but moved up the leaderboard with a final-round 65. With the tie for second, Sindelar virtually secured his card for 2002.

He entered this week sitting at 123rd on the money list, with only the top 125 earning cards for next season. With a $334,400 paycheck, Sindelar vaulted to 67th.

Morland's finish at nine-under and tied for fifth was the best finish by a Canadian in this event since Dave Barr's tie for fourth in 1988 at Glen Abbey Golf Club and only the third top-five finish by a Canadian since 1971.